Features Section Editor Saisha Kumar ’25 visited a community of denotified tribes in India as a participant in the Kutler Center Junior Fellowship Program.  Kumar said she learned about this community from her grandmother, who lives nearby in Mumbai. 

Denotified tribes  were classified as “criminals” under the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act, which prevented them from accessing educational and economic opportunities. This law was repealed after India gained its independence, but the tribes could not regain access to resources.

Kumar researched assistance programs implemented  by aid organizations  to help tribes recover from poverty and earn a stable income by selling handmade items. While there, she interviewed a professor who was a member of the Rotary Club. The club is one of the organizations providing economic assistance to the tribes.

Kumar said  she gained insight into the various resources afforded to members of these tribes, especially the women.

“I interviewed many of the women because women were unable to have jobs due to a lack of educational opportunities,” Kumar said. “The Rotary Club taught women how to make quilts and provided all of the supplies.”

Kumar said her trip was unique because the community she visited was completely different from her own.

“I talked to some young girls about why they go to school,”  Kumar said. “I just go to school to go to school, but there was a nine-year-old girl who said she went to school because she wanted to make her parents proud. It was important for me to see the values that they had instilled in themselves and what they were doing, so I could appreciate my education and all that I have.”

Kumar plans to conclude the Junior Fellowship by creating a presentation or a video of the interviews she  conducted.